The Massachusetts Coalition of Police held it’s 35th Annual President’s Dinner at Gillette Stadium on April 4th, 2014, which turned out to be a night filled with surprises for the crowd of Masscop members. The night began with an opening involving the Norwood Police Honor Guard, the Boston Police Gaelic Column of Pipes and Drums, and a beautiful rendition of the National Anthem by Marianne Withington.
Attorney Alan Shapiro then started a presentation on the use of Narcan and was interrupted by an appearance by none other than New England Patriots Coach Bill Belichick. Coach Belichick spoke about the Patriots, leadership, and gave his thanks for everything our members do day in and day out. Immediately following that on the side stage, who comes out to play a few numbers for us? That’s right…the Dropkick Murphys. Taking time out of their busy touring schedule, the Dropkicks stopped by to play an acoustic set that brought the house down.
The venue was something special for our 35th Anniversary. Members got a chance to look out over the Patriot’s field and had pictures taken with the Masscop logo on the Diamondvision boards. But the highlight of the night was when our membership came together and do what they do best, they came together to help someone in trouble. Throughout the night there were a number of remembrances for Officer Gregg Maloney, a Plymouth Police Officer who was involved in a fatal on-duty motorcycle accident a couple days before our event. Despite the fact that Officer Maloney was not a member of Masscop, he is still our law enforcement brother. It was decided that the sleeves that were cut off of the sweatshirt for Coach Belichick would be auctioned off, with the proceeds going to the family of Officer Maloney. Once the bidding started, it became a frenzy of locals ignoring the auctioneer and walking up with stacks of money collected from their tables. It went from an auction to an announcement of locals who had come up and donated. When the dust settled, our members raised over $6300 dollars for the Maloney family. It was then that the 50/50 raffle was announced and Mark Aiello from the Methuen local came to claim his prize. Shortly after, he came back up with the entire $1200 and donated it to the Officer Maloney Fund. The night’s total was $7500, which was then turned over to our Area VP Dana Flynn. Dana went to the academy with Gregg and was his lieutenant at the Plymouth Police Department. It was only fitting to turn the money over to Dana to present it to the Maloney Family.
All in all, it was a fantastic night, with a great time had by all.
Thank you to all who planned, attended, and participated in this event. See the pictures below:
